NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The former director of a nonprofit housing agency in New Orleans will be sentenced Thursday in a kickback scheme that came to light as the city struggled to clear blight and repair widespread damage in the years after Hurricane Katrina.
Documents filed when Stacey Jackson pleaded guilty to conspiracy in July described nearly $50,000 in kickbacks.
She faces up to five years in prison for her actions as director of New Orleans Affordable Housing.
Prosecutors will drop charges of obstructing justice, bribery and stealing federal money as part of a plea agreement.
Jackson's agency got federal money to gut houses after the hurricane, levee failures and catastrophic flooding of 2005, but news reports three years later showed that the work was never completed
Plea deals with other defendants outlined hundreds of thousands of dollars in NOAH transactions with contractors who did little or no work.
The scandal became a major embarrassment for the administration of then-Mayor Ray Nagin, whose popularity was plummeting as the city struggled to recover from the 2005 storm. Nagin, convicted of corruption in an unrelated case, is serving a 10-year sentence.
